Observation: Hatcher Pass

Location: North Side of Government Peak

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Skin up from Skeetawk. Cold in the valley but warmed quickly. Cold new snow on a firmer layer above a buried crust. Beautiful day.

Clear rotor wash from Heli skiers who had skied N side government peak. I skied G peak on Sunday and we left three tracks, there were probably 10 today. So at least two bumps of a full client load some time between Sunday night and Thursday’s little bit of new snow. Just wanted to mention that someone is heli skiing in non-motorized areas, perhaps they thought no one would notice? not sure. Already reported it to State Parks.

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Sunny, 4-8" of cold new snow.

Snow surface

Settled foot of pow below new snow on a firm layer. Breakable, or compressible.

Snowpack

Dug pit on north side of peak in dark valley bottom. 4-8" of new fluff, 12" of dense snow, a firm almost crust layer, then uniform dense snow. ETC took 30 hits with nothing. But prying the column it did pop on that almost crust layer. Super fun skiing but such a haul to get in there.